Clever
by JustiFaiz
Summary: Chase had kissed him on the cheek after he helped clean up his cut. That had to mean something, didn't it? (continuation of Cuts and Kisses)


Riley had been trying to find more free time so he could catch Chase alone to talk to him. It had been weeks after Riley had cut his hand, and it was for the most part healed already, but bandages didn't exactly work with whatever Riley was going through at the moment. Chase had kissed his palm, hell, he had kissed his cheek, yet after that nothing. Absolutely nothing. Was it just Chase being...himself? That he was just teasing him for getting all flustered? He had even started calling Riley 'Bambi' much to his great dismay and the amusement of others.

He didn't want to be strung along, because he hated to admit it. He had a crush. A horrible, horrible, crush on the resident Kiwi of their group. The one who was well known for being a complete flirt with women. _Women._ Not guys at all. Riley had been keeping an eye out for that, maybe out of vain hope to see if he was at least bisexual or something. Something he could cling onto. But Chase didn't even know he was gay. He had been pretty close to just coming out when they were on that track, but it would have fallen to deaf ears anyways since Chase had been listening to music the entire time.

Riley had honestly come to terms with his own sexuality awhile ago, even if he wouldn't dare mention it to his mother, or really anyone who lived within radius of their home (which luckily for the most part were cows and pigs). His brother Matt actually already knew, after an unfortunate incident that had involved him walking in on Riley and another boy in a slightly compromising position, but surprisingly Matt had taken it rather well. At least he had had someone to look awkwardly at when their mother would go on tangent on her little boys growing up, getting married, and having kids.

But despite knowing full well he was gay, he hadn't exactly had much experience other than that one time that his Matt walked in on him with another guy, and that had been very short-lived from the sheer embarrassment. Now he had to deal with Chase, who despite having kissed him on the cheek was still constantly flirting with girls. He'd hoped he could catch Chase alone at least once so he could at least ask him about it, finally have it cleared up so he could move on with his life and at least having confirmation that the black ranger wasn't into him at all.

But of course one of the downfalls of being a Power Ranger was that free time was quickly becoming a thing of the past. If they weren't fighting the monster of the week, they were taking shifts at the cafe. If they weren't in the cafe, they were training, and finally if they weren't training, they were actually doing things their body needed, like food and sleep. The small instances that they had some free time to hang out, it was as a group.

At the moment, Riley was working with Koda, Tyler, and Chase...Though 'working' and 'Chase' was slightly questionable as Chase had just sat down to chat up a female customer (who looked very uninterested, which made Riley a bit happier than it should have.) instead of waiting on tables like he should have been doing. Riley himself was on busboy duty, cleaning up the tables and occasionally helping out in the back. He wobbled slightly as he carried a tray of plates and trays towards the back, but he was momentarily distracted by the sound of laughter, and he glanced behind himself to see Chase and the same woman who had looked previously uninterested laughing at something.

Apparently that was enough to kick him off balance, because he crashed into the side of the doorframe and all the dirty dishes he had went tumbling down, the loud crashing noise echoing through the tiny cafe. He was immediately met with the sound of silence before a group of rowdy kids who were there with their class immediately let out a chorus of 'ooohs' before being shushed by the teacher. Riley could feel his face growing hot as he scrambled to pick up all the fallen dishes, trying to ignore the fact that he had managed to spill a lot of leftover drinks down his front. He felt someone stoop down next to him and he felt himself lighten up suddenly before feeling a bit disappointed that it was Tyler, not Chase.

But Tyler just smiled at him. "Hey, you should go get changed out of those clothes, I'll finish picking up everything."

"You sure?" Riley asked.

"Yep! You don't wanna be in wet clothes anyways, do you?" Tyler grinned.

And damn, was his grin infectious, Riley couldn't help but smile back even though he was still thoroughly embarrassed about the whole thing. He stood back up and went down to their base, since most of them ended up keeping spare clothes and uniforms there just in case. He got on a new uniform quickly, half wishing that a new monster would be sent out to interrupt their day just so he wouldn't have to go back to the cafe.

When Riley exited the base, he froze. Chase was standing right there, leaning against a few wooden boxes, headphones firmly in place. He was still in uniform too, and Riley couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed.

"Chase."

No response.

"_Chase._"

Still nothing.

Well, they were alone for once.

Riley moved forward, grabbed Chase's expensive looking headphones and yanked them right off his head. He seemed shocked, looking up from his phone from the sudden disappearance of his beloved headphones.

"What was that for?" the Kiwi asked, snatching them back out of Riley's grasp.

"What are you doing back here? You're supposed to be working, though you weren't really doing much anyways while you were still in the cafe."

Chase narrowed his eyes. "Well sorry I was concerned about you _Bambi._"

Riley's fists tightened slightly at the nickname Chase had given him. "Concerned? Why would you be concerned about me?"

"Do you think I hadn't noticed, mate? You've been acting strange for a few weeks now! I think even Koda is starting to notice at this point."

"...Have I?" Riley asked.

"Yeah, you've been pretty distant. Not to mention you never drop trays, you're too much a perfectionist to do that. You don't lose focus, not like I do."

Riley sighed. "Well thanks for the concern, Chase." So much for his original plan of talking to Chase. He turned to leave, but Chase grabbed his hand and pulled him back. "What?"

"Why are you acting so strange? Can you at least answer me that?"

Riley could barely maintain eye contact with Chase. He finally had his opening to tell him and he's completely at a loss for words. He stared at the ground, knowing full well that this time Chase won't get distracted and wander off.

"Riley?"

"What the hell are your feelings towards me?" Riley blurted out suddenly, taking Chase and even himself by surprise.

"What do you mean?"

"What do I mean? Well when I cut my hand with my sword you kissed my palm and then kissed my cheek. Were you doing that just to mess with me or is it something else? I just need a bit of closure with that, so I can go back to being the awkward closeted green ranger." Riley let out a huge breath before looking up to stare at Chase right in the eyes.

He could feel his heart beating hard in his chest as the seconds of silence stretched. He felt like he had just finished training instead of admitting he had a crush.

"...You really do like me?" He seemed surprised.

"Yes, you idiot." Riley ran a hand through his hair in exasperation.

That made Chase smile widely. "Really?"

"Yes!"

"You sure?"

Riley was getting royally pissed. "Yes, you idiot Kiwi. I like you, a lot."

That apparently was enough for Chase, who leaned down and kissed Riley, this time on the mouth. "Good."

Riley spluttered. "But...Why would you keep flirting with girls? A little hint would have been appreciated."

"I guess because you didn't really say anything afterwards I figured you'd decided to act like it never happened and you weren't interested…" Chase shrugged. "But I guess since you are, and I am. Does this mean we can hook up?" He perked up as soon as he said it.

Riley bit his lip. "Not quite."

Chase's face fell. "Why not?"

"To be honest I wasn't really expecting any of this today. I wasn't even expecting you to actually reciprocate any feelings. I was going into this fully expecting you to say that you were completely straight." Riley tried to form words explaining what he was going for. "What I'm saying I guess is that we need to take it a bit slow? I mean...we know each other in a way, but we don't really _know _each other."

Chase's mouth quirked into a small smile. "I guess I could handle that, Bambi."

"Do you really have to call me that?"

"Yes."

Riley sighed, and gave Chase and aggravated smile. "Fine then, come with me." Riley started taking off his apron.

"Where are we going?" Chase asked, as Riley threw the apron down the chute to the base.

"On a walk."

Chase genuinely looked a bit shocked. "Are we really skipping out on work?"

Riley shrugged. "Seems so."

"You are not the Riley I know and love."

Riley flicked Chase on the cheek. "You barely know me. There are more sides to Riley than you think. Anyways, we can just tell the rest that you wandered off and I went to go find you. That happens often enough that we'll get into less trouble. Just a heavy scolding from Ms. Morgan and some whining from Shelby because she had to take our shifts."

Chase smirked. "Clever girl."

Riley stopped in his tracks and stared at Chase. "You did not."

"I did."

"You did _not_."

"You are the velociraptor, aren't you?" Chase was already sprinting away, laughing.

"Chase I'm going to _kill you_!" Riley went running after him, but he couldn't hide the grin on his face.

A/N: Fun Fact: I literally only wrote this fic so I could make that Jurassic Park reference.


End file.
